Bat For Lashes

July 9, 2007

When you take a listen to Natasha Khan’s Bat For Lashes, you can immediately formulate the list of celebrity musicians that have named her record, Fur & Gold (which has been out in the UK for some time), as one of their favorites of recent times. The usual players have added their love and support to the multi-media artist turned musician: Thom Yorke (a good bit of press there on the iTunes celebrity playlist), Bjork (comparisons galore), CocoRosie (tourmates), Devendra Banhart.

This could be Joanna Newsom Redux: an artists’ artist with an approach to rock and roll that slightly derails the music machine. No, she doesn’t play the harp (that I know of anyway), but there is that unique off-beat something (see the photo) that makes the comparison less forced. Here’s a critic’s darling favored by the cross-over successes of the progressive music class, aka. line it up for your top ten list.

Musically, Bat For Lashes has a much more conventional approach to indie-rock than Ms. Newsom. Khan’s voice has a more traditional pop sound, and the songs have no aspirations for a freak folk label. The comparison to Bjork is much more accurate in scale and direction, though there are moments where Khan sounds a lot like Tori Amos… maybe aligned with an Icelandic production team (see “Prescilla”).

The driving force behind your future love for Bat For Lashes, however, is featured below. The video for “What’s A Girl To Do?” is cooler than you. It should be played every waking moment on MTV instead of the ridiculousness that is Engaged and Underage. It’s like a mash between Radiohead’s “Karma Police” video and Donnie Darko.